Evie
“That won’t burn, it’s too damp. The ones over here are better,” Connor tells me, stepping out of the shadows with three big logs in his arms. I drop the branch I picked up, following him over to branches that are hidden under the trees instead. He is right, they look drier than the ones I was picking up. Connor watches me silently, and he seems to be thinking about something.
“I used to date Esther, when we were young,” Connor suddenly tells me, putting his logs down, and sitting with his back against the tree as he pulls his bottle of water out. I go to the tree opposite him, sitting down after putting my branches down next to me. I could do with a rest, anyway. We have been building the pyre for the last five hours, and I’m shattered. Star has enjoyed the rest, she has been running around after Azi and Nix most of the time as they built the main parts of the pyre.
“How long did you date for?” I ask.
“Not long, we were only sixteen, and when Erica found out, she told everyone. It wasn’t worth risking us being together after that,” he tells me.
“Why wasn’t it worth it?” I ask.
“The royals aren’t allowed to date until they are married, and I would never have been able to marry a royal because in the Protectors, I’m considered low-class,” he says, laughing. “Esther and I were never that serious, just kids messing about, really.”
“I’m sorry she is dead, and you had to see her like that,” I say. It’s not a nice way to see anyone dead. Rotting, and their arms all burnt like the princesses’ were.
“I’m sorry she didn’t survive this; the world needs people like her in it. She was a good woman. She has three farms she bought with her inheritance, and she used to rehome animals in them. The keepers didn’t like her helping others, but she did anyway,” he says.
“She sounds like a good person,” I reply.
“She might have made a good queen, Emily would have, too,” he says quietly and there’s a long silence between us as I stare over at him. His gold hair is messy now, no more of the nice style it had when we came here, but I think it brings out his gold eyes more. I like the relaxed look on him. I can’t imagine him in the suits the Protectors usually wear.
“So . . . Protectors have low and high classes? Like humans? Rich and poor?” I ask, and he nods, resting his head back.
“Yes, it’s like how humans used to class themselves, but worse in some ways. Blood means everything to Protectors, it determines how strong you are and most of the time you are as strong as your parents,” he says.
“Why did they choose you to come here then? I would have thought they would have sent their strongest,” I say, and wince. “No offense.”
“None taken, because I am one of their strongest,” he says with a shrug of his shoulders, but he doesn’t say it a cocky way. More just stating a fact.
“Then, I’m confused,” I say, making him laugh.
“I’m not one-hundred percent Protector, my father was a reaper,” he says, shocking me.
“Reapers don’t breed outside their race, and no one knows much about them. It’s crazy that you’re half of one,” I say, and he nods with a smirk. I try to think about anything I’ve heard about reapers as I look at Connor, and don’t come up with much. Human rumours are all I can think of. Reapers are meant to take souls and demons to hell, but who knows if they do? Protectors take a lot of the demons to hell these days, so how useful could the reapers be?
“Yeah, I don’t know much about my father or my reaper side. I only know I have boosted strength, heighten senses, and I can see some souls on earth if I’m really close to them. Usually, I can see their souls if I watch them die, also,” he explains. “It made me jump up the ranks in Protector academy and leave as one of the top students. Nix, Trex, and the three princesses were the others. We all got pretty close scores.”
“Then, maybe the rumours that reapers take lost souls to hell is true,” I say.
“Yeah. I mean, I know some things my mother told me. I don’t get to see her for long, and we don’t talk of my father much of the little time we have once a week,” he smiles sadly. “She told me that my father takes the worst kind of demons back to hell and manages souls. That’s the job of a reaper apparently.”
“What do you mean about your mother?” I ask, and he looks away, tightening his jaw.
“She is imprisoned for the rest of her life. She has been in there since I was born, and I was placed in an adoptive home to be watched. Once they realised I wasn’t a danger, they let me see her once a week,” he tells me, still not looking my way.
“What was she imprisoned for?” I ask.
“Loving my father and keeping me a secret until she was in labour. Mixing Protector’s blood with other kinds is illegal to the Protectors. Blood above all else is one of our most important laws,” he explains to me.
“Then the Protectors are as evil as I thought they were. Your mother did not deserve that sentence for falling in love,” I say as I shake my head in disgust.
“Our kind doesn’t make the right decisions all the time, but they make the decisions that keep us safe,” he says firmly, and I can tell he believes in the Protectors, their rules, and there isn’t much point in arguing with him. I look away, picking up some of the branches, and spotting a small, red bunch of flowers.
“Can I ask you something?” Connor asks, and I look away from the flowers for a second to nod at him. “Who taught you to fight?”
“A demon,” I say, not wanting to explain anything more. I pull two of the red flowers out of the ground, and walk over to Connor, placing them in his hand.
“I watched a lot of people being buried in the demon underground. Every weekend, there would be burials of demons or some random person. Every time, they put a plant or flower in their hands. They said the dead should take a little bit of the earth with them in death as their souls leave their bodies,” I say, and he closes his hand over mine on the flowers.
“For a woman people fear, you are kindest woman I’ve met in years,” he says, staring down at me with those addictive to look at, striking, gold eyes. I know I can’t look away, not as he draws me into him. If this was any other place, any other time, and any other person, I’d have his clothes off by now. The simple fact he is off-limits to me, is annoyingly as well. Everything is gorgeous about him.
“I’m not kind, not usually, anyway. I’m downright evil when I’m pissed off,” I warn him, and his eyes gleam with humour.
“I’ll remember not to piss you off, then,” he replies.
“Who says we will even see each other again when all this is over?” I counter.
“We will, because there is no way I’m letting you walk out my life, blue,” he says, letting go of my hand and keeping the flowers. I don’t move as he picks up his logs before walking away, leaving me a little speechless and fearing that Azi might be right. These Protectors are good at getting my defences down, and that is dangerous for someone like me.